NIT Game 3: Dayton at Illini Preview, just keep playing.
by Joe Kutsunis on Mar 24, 2010 8:00 AM CDT
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One more home game, one more mid-major opponent, one more game til New York.
The first experience of NIT basketball in the Assembly Hall in some fifteen years was by all accounts a success. A lot of people bought tickets and enjoyed the rather open seating policy. After an edgy first half rocked by too few concession stands and too close basketball, the team got rolling and the crowd started enjoying themselves. I give a good amount of credit to the fans for coming out to a game which could have gone rather badly. Kudos for showing your support for the team with your dollars.
I expect about the same tonight. Win or lose, this will be the last basketball game in the Assembly Hall this season, so it is everyone's last chance to enjoy college basketball, lord knows I am going to miss it when it's gone.
Unfortunately I don't have too much to offer today in real analysis as far as Dayton is concerned, other than that they, like the Illini, absolutely died down the stretch. But, once again like the Illini, have rediscovered their groove here in the NIT.
I happen to be of the opinion though, that if we see the sort of numbers and performance from Mike Tisdale, Mike Davis, and Demetri McCamey that we saw Monday night, the Illini will be victorious.
I can think of maybe only three games all season long where the Illini played really good basketball for the majority of the game and still lost, and that was to Gonzaga, Purdue and Ohio State. All respect due to Dayton, but they are not any of those teams. If the Illini can play up to their skill and talent they will win, but then again, hasn't that been the story all year?
I encourage everyone to come out tonight to support the guys, it has been a long season for everyone, but it must be weighing on them most of all at this point.
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Well I will be at the game tonight.
Going to get there early to (hopefully) get some good seats.
The only other game I went to this year was Ohio State (what an awful game). The funny part is, before the season started, my dad was trying to decide what game to get tickets to, and he narrowed it down to either Michigan State or Ohio State. Since the Spartans were expected to be the best in the Big Ten at that time, he chose Ohio State so we wouldn’t have to see the Illini get destroyed. That, my friends, is the definition of irony.
Todd Kalas wants to murder that furry green shit
by Albertrayon on Jul 23, 2009 1:17 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
Yes, I would say
in retrospect that was the wrong choice. But given the beat down we gave the Buckeyes last year, I don’t think anyone expected us to have our doors blown out this year.
Stupid Jon Diebler
by Joe Kutsunis on Mar 24, 2010 11:18 AM CDT up reply actions
Same state, different conference, better skill level.
I expect this to be a battle.
St. Louis Game Time . . . I need another beer.
Should be a close game
I can give you some insight for tonight as a Dayton fan. Should be close and could go either way, but Illinois is probably more consistent. All year Dayton has gone up on opponents by large margins (UC +20, Xavier +25, Geo Tech +17, Kansas St +12) in the first half and then folded in the 2nd half of the game. The only exception was Monday at UC where Cincy did come back, but Dayton blew right past them again at the end of the game.
Dayton is tough from the 3 point line and has very strong, physical guys in the paint. Watch out for Chris Wright who regularly plays with LeBron and has dunked on him in pick-up games. He is a one-man dunking highlight film. Marcus Johnson is the teams consistent shooter while London Warren is a defensive menace.
Dayton has difficulty against zone defenses and especially against full-court traps. This could be key to an Illini win. Like you said, it will be key for both teams as to which version of their team shows up. Looking forward to a good game…
well I didn't like any of that
strong 3 point shooting——-not good for the Illini
Weak against zone—— not good for the Illini
Physical——— what do you think?
I now feel much worse than earlier about this.
by Joe Kutsunis on Mar 24, 2010 3:02 PM CDT up reply actions
who knows
I’ve only seen Illinois twice this year and they looked really tough once and weren’t quite as good the other time. If Illinois is playing well and Dayton is missing 3’s, Dayton does tend to panic – so that could mean they get blown out. Who knows. UD fans sound a lot like UI fans in that we never know which team will show up for games. Dayton is much better than Kent State, but not sure they’re quite as good as Illinois. Great blog by the way
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